[ad_1]
Chris McKeen / Stuff
Luna Rossa on the tail of Team New Zealand during Thursday’s practice session.
The New Zealand team looked impressive again as the British and American rivals were absent when the second round of official America’s Cup practice took place in Auckland on Thursday.
Emirates Team New Zealand showed a show of force when they stayed to battle record challenger Luna Rossa in an afternoon session delayed by high winds.
By doing the workouts started under the watch of the race officials once again, the New Zealand Team controlled the opening exchange. In the second “race” they were in full control against the Italians and in their third match, they used a burst of star speed to overcome them.
Thursday’s practice session was held again in the Course E area off the Bucklands Beach area and it remains to be seen how much can be read in these early training exercises, but Te Rehutai’s speed remains a standout feature. .
READ MORE:
* America’s Cup: Team USA officially retires
* America’s Cup: the first lesson came to the New Zealand team
* America’s Cup – New Zealand team looks stylish at first official practice
The absence of the other challengers was a disappointment and a particular blow to Sir Ben Ainslie’s INEOS UK team.
It leaves them without boat-to-boat action this week after failing to start the first practice session last Tuesday when they suffered damage in the run-up. That’s believed to be a problem with their mast, which forced them back to base on a painfully slow trailer.
While American Magic got off to a good start in that initial session, they did experience some late problems, with speculation focused on the helm area.
Both unions closed their shed doors Thursday and ground crews worked overtime on repairs.
Their next target is the official practice races on Friday, but they might have doubts about that.
There are other practice races scheduled for Monday and Tuesday before the start of the World Series and the Christmas Cup Regatta on December 17-20.
They will be desperate to solve their problems with such limited opportunities to align these boats with each other after previous regattas in Italy and Britain were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The opening practice session showed how crews need to sharpen their game for racing action as they perform their starting routines against another boat for the first time.
Emirates Team NZ
Defenders of the America’s Cup know that there is a lot of work to be done as the concept of racing is proven in official practice.